


Runaway

by ElevatedMidday



Category: OMORI (Video Game)
Genre: Absolute sunburn trash, F/M
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2021-02-07
Updated: 2021-02-18
Packaged: 2021-03-12 03:35:22
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 13,401
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29253801
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ElevatedMidday/pseuds/ElevatedMidday
Summary: Heya! This is a fic which was inspired by a conversation I had with a few people in the Omori Discord server. The premise of this fic is as follows: 2 years after the true ending of the game’s story, Sunny is 18, and living with his mother in their new home as he finishes his last year of high school. He’s done his best to put his past behind him, and move on from Mari, though he still cries about her sometimes. One day, Aubrey shows up on his doorstep after having run away from home. She has nowhere to go, and Sunny and his mom take her in. Sunburn fluff ensues.This is my first real piece of writing I’ve ever done, so feedback would be greatly appreciated!
Relationships: Aubrey/Sunny (OMORI)
Comments: 47
Kudos: 311





	1. A New Arrival

**Author's Note:**

> I want to give a HUGE shout out to everyone on the OMORI discord server who helped contribute to this fic, through ideas, review, criticism, or even just by telling me they liked it.
> 
> I want to give SPECIAL THANKS to a few people:  
> Cinnabird, for inspiring me to write more and boosting my mood with their incredible reactions and compliments. (They're also working on a Pokemon AU that looks dope as hell!)
> 
> Chicken Batnana, for giving feedback on improvements I can make and letting me know when things go right. They're working on a twins AU fic that bangs, so if you like twins AU check that out! https://archiveofourown.org/works/29176323
> 
> Iogame, RadiantRiptide and NoOne on the Omori discord for providing many different ideas for scenes and dialogue, and for helping come up with the fic's concept in the first place.
> 
> Finally, I would like to extend a GARGANTUAN THANKS to Pitmore, for his incredible insight and critique on writing. He has helped me improve so much, and without him this fic would not be what it was. He is currently working on, in his own words: "A 3-years-later fic focusing on the characters and the long-term reaction to the truth sunny and basil revealed." So if that sounds interesting or you just like good writing go check him out! https://archiveofourown.org/works/28967697/chapters/71085567
> 
> Thank you and I hope you enjoy!

Sunny woke up that morning with tears on his face. He had just woken from a dream where he was back in Faraway town with Kel, Basil... Aubrey, Hero and... and Mari. Months had passed since he had last thought about her, and though he had mostly succeeded in moving on, she always seemed to pop back up. He wiped the tears from his eyes and sniffled, took a deep breath and started his morning routine.

After getting dressed and brushing his teeth he walked downstairs and put some coffee in the mixer. On his way to grab breakfast from the pantry, he stopped to glance at the photograph of Mari hanging on the kitchen’s wall. Thoughts of what it would be like if she were still with them flooded his mind, and his eyes began to fill with tears again. 

Sunny shook his head to clear his thoughts, grabbed a bowl, and poured himself some cereal. His mom had left a list of chores for him on the kitchen counter, but they could wait. He had promised himself that he was going to work on schoolwork that morning, so he grabbed his math book and sat down on the couch. Minutes turned to hours and the morning slipped by.

*Bang bang bang bang bang!* Sunny was rudely startled out of his focus. His brow furrowed in confusion. Neither Sunny nor his mom had ordered anything… and it wasn’t like he really had any friends who would be visiting. He considered just ignoring whoever it was, but his curiosity got the better of him. He stood up, closing his math book, and walked over to the door.

As he turned the lock and pulled the door open, his gaze was met by a girl with bright pink hair and teal colored eyes. She had a suitcase in one hand and a bag in the other, Her face was red and she was looking at the ground. In an instant, Sunny’s mind was pulled back to Faraway town. Sunny was shocked. What was she doing here? He had tried so hard to put all of that behind him, to move on, to forget… but here in front of him was a reminder of everything that had happened, and everything he wished never had. Sunny’s mind was flooded with memories of Mari and their friends. In an instant, time seemed to grind to a halt.

“-nny? Hello? Sunny? SUNNY?”

Sunny was pulled back to the present by Aubrey’s voice.

“Aubrey? H-how did you know where I moved to?” 

Aubrey let go of her suitcase to push a few strands of cotton candy pink hair out of her face.  
“I asked Kel. His mom told him, and she found out from your mom.”

“O-oh,” spluttered Sunny, his mind whirling. “A-and why are you here?”

Aubrey glanced down at the ground, her face turning red. She took a deep breath before quietly responding: “I… needed somewhere to stay and… you were the first person I thought of. I understand it’s asking a lot… but I needed to try.”

For the second time that day Sunny’s mind began to spin. No, of course not. She can’t. She couldn’t. It would be too much, too painful, too easy to remember. He’s not ready. He had just managed to stop thinking about Mari all the time and now she’s here? She couldn’t stay. He opened his mouth to turn her away…

And then he saw the look on her face.

Sunny had never seen Aubrey look like this before. Even when she was a young kid playing with her friends she had always kept up a tough outer appearance, but the Aubrey that Sunny saw standing in front of him now looked… vulnerable. He was yanked back to all the times she had comforted him when something went wrong, or how she had forgiven him after he told her the truth behind Mari’s death. He remembered feeling happy with her around, and how she had been able to make him feel just a little less sad. He just couldn’t bring himself to do it. Taking a deep breath, Sunny stepped away from the door and gestured for Aubrey to come inside.

As she walked through the door, Aubrey looked around Sunny’s living room. While smaller than the one in his old house, the furniture and architecture had a much more modern feel to them. Due to this, the house had the appearance of being much more luxurious than it was in reality.

“Nice place Sunny,” Aubrey said. “I like it a lot better than that lame old thing you were living in before. Though there isn’t a treehouse…”

After she slipped out of her shoes and left her bags by the door, Aubrey collapsed onto the couch with a sigh. Sunny sat down on the other end of the couch, and the two looked at each other for a while, neither really sure what to say. Eventually, Sunny broke the silence.

“So… How’d you get all the way up here? I didn’t see a car in the driveway…”

Aubrey snorted. “Like I could afford a car. Nah, I took a cab here. Only took a couple hours.”

“Still, a couple hours in a car with a stranger? I can’t imagine what that must have been like.”

“It really wasn’t that bad, all things considered. The guy driving was nice enough. Made a few attempts at conversation but shut up when he realized I wasn’t the type to talk a ton.”

“Sounds nice. Um… how are things back home?”

Aubrey leaned back on the couch, stretching herself out. In a bored tone she replied, “Oh you know… same old same old. Kel seems a lot sadder not having his big brother around, but he’s started talking to this blue haired girl so… he’s doing alright for himself. Basil was hit HARD when you left… he didn’t leave his house for three days.” Aubrey playfully shoved an elbow into Sunny’s side. “Kind of reminded me of you, huh?”

“Yeah, yeah… laugh it up” Sunny said, rolling his eyes. “Um… if you don’t mind me asking, why’d you leave in the first place”

The air between them seemed to grow incredibly tense, as Aubrey’s face quickly shifted from a lighthearted expression to a stony mask of anger. With tension in her voice she quietly responded “I… do mind actually. I’d rather not say.”

Sunny, while curious, was not suicidal. Raising his hands in mock surrender he responded “Alright, if you don’t wanna talk I’m not going to make you.”

Sunny quickly returned the conversation to talk of home, and minutes turned to hours once again. Sunny’s stomach turned as he thought about what he had done. There was no turning back now. In no time it was dark out. The two were sitting on the couch, somehow having inched a bit closer to each other, when the door opened again and Sunny’s mom walked in.

“Sunny, I’m back from work! Did you finish your ch-” Sunny’s mom froze as she caught sight of Aubrey. Her eyes moved from Sunny to Aubrey and back again. “Sunny I didn’t know you had a girlfriend!”

You could have found the ripest, most red and rich tomato in the world and it wouldn’t have held a CANDLE to the color Aubrey and Sunny turned at that moment. Aubrey let out a noise like a cat being strangled as she nearly choked on the protein bar she was eating. Sunny spluttered a response: “M-mom! She’s not… we’re not… it’s not like that!”

Sunny’s mom laughed and winked at Sunny, before turning to take a closer look at the girl sitting next to her son. Her laughter died in her throat. “Aubrey!? What on earth are you doing here?”

Aubrey, still reeling from Sunny’s mom’s previous comment, was in no condition to answer her. Sunny quickly responded “Aubrey said that she needed a place to stay so I told her she could stay here. That’s okay isn’t it?”  
Sunny’s mom grimaced as she thought about what it would mean having to support and pay for an extra person living under her roof. Sunny could almost see the internal conflict going on within his mother’s mind, but in the end her good heart prevailed. “Of course she can, sweetie. She can have your bed and you can sleep on the pull out couch in the game room.”

“I’ll take the couch Sunny,” Aubrey responded, followed by a much quieter “can’t be worse than the one at home.”

“Well I’ll leave you two to catch up then!” Sunny’s mom tittered as she left the room. The silence that followed was deafening, as both were too embarrassed to look the other in the eye.

Sunny didn’t really understand what had just happened, but he knew that he had to get out of that room right there and then, or he was going to die of embarrassment. “I uh… I think I’m going to go to bed, I’m really tired.” he stammered.

“Yeah I - I think I will too” Aubrey nervously replied. Before Sunny could run upstairs to his room however, she grabbed his arm with a soft “Hey…” Sunny turned to face her. “I appreciate this you know. Really, I do. You have no idea how much this means to me.” Sunny was silent for a moment before responding with a silent nod of understanding and rushing upstairs to the safety of his room.

Once upstairs Sunny let out a massive sigh and flopped down onto his bed. He wasn’t sure exactly what would happen in the days to come, but he wondered if he was going to grow to regret his decision. Yet as he fell into the darkness of sleep, an inexplicable smile stretched across his face.


	2. An Afternoon Jog

Aubrey was startled by her unfamiliar surroundings the next morning. What happened to the walls? They were the wrong color and the paint wasn’t peeling. And the smell of garbage was missing! The couch she was sleeping on was much too comfortable, and didn’t have a spring poking through the bottom of it either. As she rubbed the sleep from her eyes and stood up, she remembered where she was and was momentarily overcome with gratitude towards Sunny and his mother. Looking at the clock she noticed it was only 8 AM, and so she decided to let Sunny sleep. Between the hours of 8 and 12, Aubrey took the time to familiarize herself with her surroundings. Once she had taken the time to explore every room in the house and she realized that Sunny was still asleep, she decided she had let him rest long enough.  
Aubrey walked up the stairs with determination, prepared to do whatever it took to get Sunny out of his room. After she walked to his door, she started banging on it with her fist, almost exactly as she had done the day before. She was met with a long groan from the other side.

“Good morning sunshine!” Aubrey cheerfully called out. “Wakey wakey!”

“Clever, Aubrey…” Sunny responded sleepily. “You been thinking of that one all morning?”

Aubrey chuckled to herself before playfully calling back through the door: “C’mon out Sunny! It’s noon already and I’d hate to have to get my old bat out and come in there myself.”

From the other side of the door came another tired groan and a pained response: “Be with you in a moment…”

When the door to Sunny’s room opened and Sunny stepped out, she couldn’t help but notice how frail he looked, and a thought occurred to her. “Sunny… when was the last time you got any exercise?”

“Ah… I… can’t exactly remember.”

“What!? You know you need to stay healthy right? A healthy body is a healthy mind and all that?”

Sunny rolled his eyes and responded with an expression that said this was far from the first time he had heard that. “I know, I know. I just haven’t really had the motivation or want to at all. It’s not that bad, I think I’m doing just fine for myself, thank you very much.”

Aubrey, on the other hand, knew better. She was silent for a moment, lost in thought. Then a grin spread across her face. “Alright Sunny, go change into something a little more flexible, we’re going for a run!”

For the third time that morning, Sunny let out a groan. “Please, spare me.”

Aubrey gave Sunny a devilish look. “Do I need to bring out the bat after all?”

Sunny rolled his eyes. “Alright, alright, fine. Just give me a moment to eat and get ready.”

Half an hour later, Sunny and Aubrey were standing next to the door to Sunny’s house, ready to go. “You can use this as an opportunity to show me around your city!” remarked Aubrey.

“I’m afraid I don’t know much about it myself,” Sunny responded. “I don’t exactly get out much.”  
“Well… how about we just start running and see where that takes us?” Aubrey asked.

Sunny shrugged. “Works for me.”

As Aubrey placed her hand on the doorknob, she realized something. Quickly turning back to Sunny, she raised an eyebrow. “You’re not seriously going to run in THAT are you?”

Sunny looked down at the white polo and dark pants he had on. Nothing seemed to be out of the ordinary so he responded with a hesitant “...Yes?”

Aubrey rolled her eyes. “You don’t have any athletic clothing?”

“Should I?”

Aubrey let out an exasperated sigh and turned back to the door.

Exiting the house, the two began to run down the sidewalk into the city. It had barely been 5 minutes when Aubrey heard a wheeze coming from behind her, and turned around to see Sunny laying on his back in the middle of the sidewalk, arms and legs splayed out around him. She walked back over to his body and looked down at him with a bemused expression on her face.

“You doing alright there bud?”

Sunny was breathing heavily. “Not… gonna… make it...” Sunny gasped between breaths. “Go on… without… me.”

Now it was Aubrey’s turn to roll her eyes. “C’mon up Sunny,” she said, extending an arm to the broken boy on the ground. “We’ll take it slower from here.”

Dropping their speed down a good amount, Sunny - while still sweating up a storm - was able to keep up a little bit easier. Aubrey had expected that Sunny probably wouldn’t be able to keep up with her normal pace, so she was fine with the change of speed. Immediately following this thought though, Sunny did something Aubrey absolutely did NOT expect.

He took his shirt off.

Aubrey’s brain short circuited as she flushed a deep shade of red. She knew she had to say something, and struggled to think of something to say. It really shouldn’t be that difficult to come up with a response here, but all she could manage was a high pitched “S-Sunny! What…!”

“What?” Sunny responded, wheezing. “I’m hot!”  
Yes, Aubrey thought to herself, reddening even further. You most certainly are. But what she said was: “O-oh. Uh... okay then!”

Mentally punching herself for losing composure, Aubrey continued to run alongside Sunny. Soon enough she found herself smiling, enjoying the experience of running alongside her friend. It had been a while since she had been able to run with anybody else, and she had forgotten how enjoyable the experience was. Eventually she noticed that Sunny was no longer running alongside her, and she stopped and turned around. Sunny was sitting on a bench along the side of the park they were running past. He had his head down in his hands and he was shaking. Aubrey ran over and sat down next to him. “Hey,” she said softly. “Everything alright?”

“No,” Sunny responded in between gasps. “What would Kel think? I can barely run half a mile! I’m sorry you have to put up with this…”

It hurt Aubrey to see Sunny talking about himself like this, and laying a hand on one of his shoulders she responded in a reassuring voice. “Dude, everyone starts off like that, even me. And for what it’s worth, I think Kel would be proud of you if he could see that you’re trying like this. I know I am.”

Sunny managed a weak smile. “T-thank you Aubrey. I… That means a lot to me. I think I can keep going.”

Aubrey and Sunny continued to run together for the next while. Eventually, Sunny stopped in front of the entrance to a plaza. Aubrey quickly stopped short and turned to Sunny with an inquiring look on her face. “What’s up?”

“You said you wanted to know about the local area, right?” 

Aubrey smiled. “Oh, yeah! So what’s this?”

“Well I’m afraid I don’t exactly know much about the ‘city sights,’ but this is probably the area I come to the most.” Pointing at a storefront with a neon green sign in the window and a jet black awning, Sunny said “That’s the one. They sell old video games and computer parts. I built my PC with pieces I got from there.”

Aubrey rolled her eyes. “Oh Sunny… You’re such a DWEEB sometimes, you know that?”

Sunny stuck out his tongue at her. “And proud of it!”

“Mhm.” Aubrey pointed at the shop next to the computer store. “And what’s that one?”

“Oh that’s AkaiHana. Sushi restaurant. I go there a lot when I’m out here buying games or computer parts.”

Aubrey’s face split into a wide grin. “Sushi? Oh hell YES. We’re going there soon, even if I have to drag you through the door. What about the rest of the shops?”

Sunny shrugged nonchalantly. “Dunno, I’ve never been in any of em. I think one might be a beauty salon….?”

“Doesn’t sound like something I’d be interested in. Anything else?”

“When I’m not in my room I’m usually here so... no.”

“Fine by me.” Aubrey turned back towards the road. “You got another few minutes in you?”

Sunny let out a resigned sigh, and the pair continued back towards Sunny’s house. Soon enough they were standing in front of the door.

“Was that so bad Sunny?” Aubrey asked.

“... Do you want me to be honest?? Yeah it was pretty bad.” Sunny responded.

Aubrey laughed, and a devilish grin spread across her face. “Well you better get used to it, because once a week I’m taking you out to get some exercise, whether you like it or not!” Aubrey was surprised when Sunny simply nodded his head without any resistance. Maybe he had enjoyed it a lot more than he had let on, she thought. She certainly knew that she had. Once the two entered Sunny’s house, Sunny quickly ran off to take a shower. Aubrey watched him go with a smile on her face, already looking forward to next week.


	3. Hardship & Comfort

It had been about a week since Aubrey first showed up at Sunny’s door, and Sunny was exhausted. Since then there hadn’t been a single quiet moment. It seemed like every time he managed to find a second or two to be alone with his thoughts, she was always there. Surprisingly, he actually found himself enjoying her company more than he thought he would, but he still desperately needed some time to himself. He had been able to sneak in a few minutes here and there, but it seemed like it would never take longer than five minutes for Aubrey to come noisily bursting through the door. Sunny rubbed his tired eyes, and returned to filling the washer.

Finishing the laundry and walking downstairs, Sunny found Aubrey sitting at the kitchen table, hunched over a book and muttering angrily to herself. Sunny considered ignoring her, but when she slammed her fist onto the table with an angry ‘UGH!’ he figured he should see what was going on.  
Sunny cleared his throat, and Aubrey whirled around with a surprised expression on her quickly reddening face. “Sun… Sunny! how long have you been uh... standing there?”

“Long enough to see everything I needed. What’s wrong?” Sunny walked over to the table and picked up the book off the table. “Pre Calc?”

Aubrey nodded sheepishly, still red in the face. “Yeah… I don’t know how you can make sense of this so easily. Some people have all the luck!”

“...Would you like some help?” Sunny offered.

“No!” Aubrey said loudly, “I can do it myself!” Sunny was reminded of her infamous pride.

Sunny shrugged. “Suit yourself.” After grabbing his own book, Sunny sat down on the other side of the table.

Not even ten minutes later Aubrey slammed her fist back on the table again and let out another loud cry. Sunny raised an eyebrow. “You sure you don’t…”

“No!” Aubrey responded once again. “I don’t need your damn help!”

After about fifteen more minutes Aubrey stood up, let out a wail of anger, and threw her pencil across the room. Sunny looked at her with a bemused expression and opened his mouth to speak. Aubrey quickly cut him off.

“Okay okay, FINE, you can help. I don’t… Ugh.”

Sunny smiled and got up from his chair. Sunny walked over to Aubrey. Passing her pencil back and grabbing his own, he took a look at Aubrey’s most recent enemy.

“Draw the graph for the following polynomial: (x-2)^2(x+4)” Sunny read out loud.

Aubrey nodded sheepishly. “Yeah that one. It just doesn’t... I don’t…” she threw her head back and groaned.

Sunny looked at the work Aubrey had scribbled next to the problem. He tapped his pencil against his chin for a moment with a thoughtful look on his face before responding “Honestly, you’re not that far off. You just made a slight mistake here” Sunny said, pointing to a spot on the page. You forgot to factor in the first two.” Sunny erased the number he was pointing at and replaced it with a different one. “See?”

Aubrey nodded. “Okay. Now what?”

“Now you need to graph it” Sunny responded.

Sunny gave Aubrey an encouraging smile and waited to see if she would need his help graphing the line. She started off strong, following the points she needed to pass through well enough, but when she got to the halfway point she made a small mistake, and forgot to pass through one of the points. Sunny stepped forward.

Aubrey turned around with a frustrated look on her face. “Did I mess up?”

Sunny smiled reassuringly. “Not by much! You just missed by a few degrees… Here, let me show you.” Sunny placed his hand on top of Aubrey’s and began to guide her pencil across the paper. He was so focused on completing the graph that he didn’t notice the surprised squeak Aubrey let out, or that she had once again turned a bright shade of red. Stepping back from the paper, he looked at her and smiled before noticing how she was looking at him. “Did I do something wrong?

Aubrey squeaked out “I.. you… you just…”

Now it was Sunny’s turn to blush a deep crimson as the reality of what he had just done dawned on him. “I didn’t mean… I was just…” he spluttered, taking a few steps back. Both parties fell silent as a wave of embarrassment washed over them. Eventually they regained control of themselves, and Aubrey broke the silence.

“Thank you, Sunny,'' she said gratefully, followed by a less quiet “How do you even know all this? Didn’t you drop out for a few years?”

Sunny shrugged. “Yeah, I did. But when I started at my new school my teacher thought I was smart enough to pass, so she had me take a few tests and let me skip a few grades. I’m back to where I should be.”

Aubrey shook her head. “I wish I could be that smart. The only things my teachers ever tell me is that I’m not ‘applying myself’ properly, whatever that means.”

“Aubrey, you really aren’t unintelligent, you know that? I have a feeling you’re smart enough to accomplish just about anything you put your mind to.”

Aubrey snorted. “I have a hard time believing that.”

Aubrey’s rage seemingly quelled for the time being, Sunny stood up, smiled at her, and returned to his studies on the other side of the table. Not too long after, both stood up from their chairs.

“It’s getting late, I think I’ll turn in” Sunny said with a yawn

“Yeah I’m done as well, that’s enough math for one day.”

With a wave, both went their separate ways. As Sunny walked up the stairs to his room, he mentally punched himself for being such an awkward doofus. Entering his room, he pulled a book off the shelf, sat down on his bed, and began to read. Growing tired rather quickly, he pulled up his covers, turned off his light, and lay down to sleep. As Sunny drifted off he remembered how Aubrey had been so supportive during their run the previous week, and he was glad that he had been able to return the favor.

Sunny was rudely awakened to the sound of his own stomach grumbling. He glanced at the clock ticking on the table besides his bed and realized that it was nearly midnight. He considered going back to sleep, but didn’t think he’d be able to with how hungry he was. Rubbing the sleep from his eyes, he slipped out of bed and walked to his door.

As he descended the stairs, Sunny’s eyes adjusted to the darkness and he realized that something was terribly wrong. Aubrey - usually fast asleep by this point - was standing in front of the mantleplace, looking down at something in her hand and shaking violently. For a moment, it almost seemed as if she was bathed in red light, and Sunny froze. As he looked around wildly he was relieved to see that the source of the light was simply a lava lamp which Aubrey must have brought from home. Sunny quickly rushed over to her side, his feet squeaking against the wooden floor, and placed a gentle hand on her shoulder, so as not to startle her. When Aubrey turned around, Sunny was shocked to see that her eyes were wet with tears: she had been crying. Sunny gently took the object she had been holding from her and looked to see what had been causing his friend such distress. As his eyes adjusted further, he was able to make out what he had in his hand.

A picture of Mari.

Though no words had been exchanged, Sunny was certain he knew what Aubrey was feeling at that moment. After all, they were the same things he had been feeling every day of his life for the past six years. Without hesitation, Sunny gently placed his arms around the sobbing girl in front of him and pulled her into a hug. Aubrey grabbed onto Sunny’s PJs and buried her face into Sunny’s shoulder. As all of the feelings came flooding back, Sunny felt his own tears begin to fall.

“Mari…” Aubrey sobbed. “Mari!”

“I know.” Sunny whispered. “I miss her too.”

“Why…” Aubrey groaned shakily, in between tears. “It’s not fair!”

Sunny began to cry harder. “No.” he whispered. “It’s not.”

Sunny was no expert in emotions, having repressed his for years, but at that moment there was nothing in the world that could have torn him away from Aubrey. He needed her, and she needed him. Leaning on each other, they shakily walked, crying, back to Sunny’s room. They sat together on the edge of the bed.

“I keep trying to move on” Aubrey shakily whispered, crawling over onto the bed. “But I just can’t make myself do it.”

“I can’t either,” Sunny quietly responded. “She meant too much.” Sunny rolled over and wrapped his arms around Aubrey, pulling her into him. She curled into a ball and put her hand into his, clutching it tightly.

“Do you remember that trip to the beach?” Sunny asked in a whisper. “The watermelon…”

Aubrey let out a shaky laugh. “We buried you in the sand…”

Sunny closed his eyes and smiled. “All the times we had picnics by the lake? We would sit under that tree and Basil would take pictures.”

Aubrey smiled and responded quietly “The treehouse? Playing card games and eating Hero’s food and Mari’s cookies...”

As the pair thought back to better times, Aubrey’s shaking was replaced with the slow, even breaths of sleep. Sunny pulled the covers over them and smiled softly. His mind filled with thoughts of friends, he closed his eyes and fell asleep, one arm still wrapped around the girl in front of him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This incredible piece of fanart was made by the wonderful Priska. I am honestly incredibly flattered that this little project I started was able to inspire someone to create a masterpiece like this. If you would like to support her, or just want an incredible piece of artwork created for you, they are currently taking commissions, which can be found here: https://ko-fi.com/album/NEW-commission-info-C0C62JGSW#galleryItemView


	4. A Date With Sunny?

Aubrey woke up the next morning and tried to roll out of bed. To her surprise, something stopped her. She turned over to see what it was… and found herself staring into Sunny’s sleeping face. What she had taken to be a pillow was actually Sunny’s arm, wrapping around her and holding her to his chest. Her face turned a bit red as she remembered the events of the previous night.

“So… it wasn’t a dream” she whispered to herself. She was furious with herself for allowing Sunny to see her vulnerable. She was supposed to be untouchable! As she thought about what happened further, however, her anger faded and was replaced with a different emotion: gratitude for what Sunny had done.

Though her mind was scrambled, one thought came through: she had to get out of there before Sunny woke up. Just the thought of the awkward conversation that would ensue if she didn’t was making her want to get out of that room as soon as possible. She gently moved Sunny’s arm aside and slipped out of bed, careful not to disturb the sleeping boy. After she crept out of the room, she gently closed the door behind her and smiled. Turning away from the door, she headed off to get changed and start her day.

The rest of Aubrey’s morning seemed to go by in record time. She ate breakfast - a simple cream cheese bagel - and was beginning to chip away at her homework for the day when the thought occurred to her that she really ought to do something to repay Sunny for the comfort he had given her. But what? She thought of what Sunny liked. Games? No. Stuffed animals? He had enough. Plus, all that was too easy! Anyone could give someone something. She wanted to do something special, something he would remember. She thought back to the run they had gone on the first week she was there, and a specific moment came to mind.

“AkaiHana…”

The sushi restaurant Sunny had pointed out to her. She was a big fan of sushi, and figured Sunny needed to get out more anyway. She felt taking him out to eat would be something he’d be more likely to remember than if she just bought him something, And so, turning back to her homework, she waited for him to wake up.

As it turned out, she wouldn’t have to wait long. She was just finishing up her second assignment for the day when she heard footsteps on the stairs behind her. As she turned around and saw Sunny descending the stairs with a tired look in his eye, she grew a little pink. She didn’t know what she should say to him after what had happened the previous night. Sunny - upon seeing her - did the same, and the two simply looked at each other with embarrassed looks on their faces. Eventually, Aubrey spoke up.

“Good… good morning Sunny!” Aubrey said, with a hint of nervousness in her voice.

“Oh uh… hey Aubrey” Sunny replied hesitantly.

Not letting herself stop and falter, Aubrey charged ahead. “I was thinking… would you like to go to that sushi restaurant with me later today? My treat. I like sushi and…” Aubrey trailed off, hoping Sunny would hear and understand her unspoken thank you.

A silent look of understanding passed between Sunny and Aubrey. “I’d…. love to.” Sunny replied.

“Great! Then um… how’s one?”

“One works fine. Thanks Aubrey.”

“It’s the least I could do…” Aubrey trailed off again, knowing Sunny would understand what she meant.

Sunny replied with a silent nod and a smile, before walking off - presumably to get breakfast of his own.

Aubrey let out the breath she had been holding, and buried her face in her hands. Had she really just done that? Had she really just asked Sunny out on a DATE? She started turning red just thinking about it. But he had agreed! Now she just had to make sure the lunch wasn’t a disaster. How hard could it be?

‘Very hard,’ Aubrey thought to herself, sitting in front of the restaurant several hours after they were supposed to have left. The date had started off well enough, Sunny had met up with her at the restaurant at one PM exactly, and the two had walked in together. This was where Aubrey’s troubles began. After they walked through the door together, they had walked up to the counter.

“Heya! Table for two please!” Aubrey had said with a smile at Sunny.

“Of course madam,” the short Asian man behind the counter replied. “And what is the name of your reservation?”

Aubrey turned pale. “Res… reservation!?”

The man nodded earnestly at her. “Yes, we require all of our esteemed guests to make a reservation before dining with us. Which one is yours?”

After regaining her composure, Aubrey replied “I… I’m afraid we don’t have a reservation. May we make one now?”

The short man smiled from ear to ear. “Of course! If you’ll just give me your name I can set one up for you! Let’s see…” He opened the large book in front of him and flipped through the pages. “It would appear we have an opening for you, say… five hours from now?”

Aubrey went as white as a sheet. “Five… Five HOURS!?”

The man nodded happily. “Yes, will that do?”

So now there they were, sitting at a table at six PM, still no sushi to be seen. But they had finally been able to place their order, with Aubrey opting for the shrimp roll while sunny chose to go for the basic California roll.

Aubrey sighed, but tried to stay lighthearted. “They should be glad they let us in when they did. Any longer and I would have left and gotten my bat, and I bet they would have let us in THEN.”

Sunny laughed. “Hey, it hasn’t been THAT bad. I used to spend double that time just lying on the floor in my room. This is nothing!”

Their waiter approached their table. ‘Good,’ Aubrey thought. ‘Nothing else can go wrong, right? Finally we can eat.’

The waiter had a forlorn expression on his face as he opened his mouth to address Aubrey. “I am afraid I have bad news madam. An issue has come up, and our rice cooker has stopped working. Without a rice cooker, we can not make sushi, you understand? I am afraid AkaiHana will be closing early today.”

Aubrey couldn’t believe it. “You mean we have to leave?”

The man responded with a sad nod. “I am afraid so.”

Aubrey gripped her chopsticks in her hand until she could feel them splintering. she felt her blood turn to lava and her jaw clench up. She wished she had her bat with her so she could take her revenge on these people for ruining her gift to Sunny. She opened her mouth to unleash her fury on the poor man in front of her, but Sunny stopped her by grabbing her wrist.

“It’s okay” he said softly to her. Turning back to the waiter he replied “That’s a shame, really. Perhaps another time.” He got up to leave and motioned for Aubrey to follow him.

On the way out the door, Aubrey’s rage turned to sadness and disappointment. She had tried so hard to do something helpful, and it had turned sour like always. Once outside, the pair began to walk home. After walking in silence for a while Aubrey turned to Sunny. “Damn it Sunny, I just wanted to do something nice for once, and I couldn’t even do that right.” She couldn’t even bring herself to meet his gaze.

Sunny laughed, but not in a mean way. “Hey, I’m not complaining. I got to spend all day with you. As days go, that’s a pretty good one.” When Aubrey continued to stare at the ground he continued, “Really! I can’t remember the last time I enjoyed myself like this. I appreciate that you took the effort.”

Aubrey finally looked up. “Well… if you say so.”

The duo came to a stop in front of Sunny’s door.

“Thank you Aubrey,” Sunny said. “Sincerely.”

“I…You’re welcome. I guess.”

Once inside, Sunny headed straight upstairs, stopping for just a moment to send a wave and a tired “goodnight” Aubrey’s way. Aubrey - realizing how tired SHE was - walked off to Sunny’s game room, but once she walked inside her gaze fell upon the couch. Aubrey thought back to the sleepless nights she had spent on that couch, thinking of her parents and Mari. She remembered the damp cushions she would sleep on, wet with her tears . In that moment, gazing at the couch in front of her, she couldn’t bring herself to spend another night alone.

She turned around and slowly walked back down the hallway, stopping in front of the door to Sunny’s room. She took a deep breath and mentally steeled herself for what she was about to do. Then, feeling ready as she ever could, she opened the door and walked over to Sunny’s bedside with as much confidence as she could muster. Slipping into bed with her back to him, she grew tense as she waited for his response. He was silent for a while, seemingly surprised at Aubrey’s actions. Aubrey held her breath. A feeling of immense relief swept through her as Sunny hesitantly slid his arm around her and pulled her close. She closed her eyes and smiled, a strong contented feeling came over her . As she fell asleep in Sunny’s arms she thought to herself ‘I could get used to this.’


	5. Kel's Guest Appearance

Sunny was in love. Or at least… he thought he was. In all honesty he wasn’t really sure WHAT he was feeling. He had always had a bit of a crush on Aubrey, but this was different, this felt REAL. Yesterday he had gone on a date with her, a real date! Sure, he had been terrified the whole time, but he had found himself just staring at her and smiling so often he had been worried she was going to notice. Looking at her made him feel all warm inside. Was this love? Sunny had never felt anything like this before, so he thought it must be. When he had awoken that morning his mind was immediately filled with thoughts of Aubrey. Her beautiful pink hair, her cute smile… he was obsessed.

After getting dressed and brushing his teeth he had walked downstairs and put some coffee in the mixer. On his way to grab breakfast from the pantry, he stopped to glance at the photograph of Mari hanging on the kitchen’s wall. He didn’t know when his sister’s face stopped being so hard to look at, but he knew the change was recent.

Sunny shook his head to clear his thoughts, grabbed a bowl, and poured himself some cereal. His mom had left a list of chores for him on the kitchen counter, but they could wait. He had promised himself that he was going to work on schoolwork that morning, so he grabbed his math book and sat down on the couch. He was finding it harder to focus on his schoolwork these days; he usually studied with Aubrey and it was hard to prevent himself from focusing on her.

*Bang bang bang bang bang!* Sunny froze, as an overwhelming sense of deja vu overcame him. This… this was exactly like the morning when Aubrey first arrived at his house. But who could it be this time around? Aubrey - walking into the room at the sound of the door being attacked - was already there. Sunny glanced at Aubrey with a questioning look on his face. Perhaps she knew something about this? Aubrey simply shook her head, bewildered. Turning back to the door, Sunny decided he was just going to have to find out who it was for himself. Placing his hand on the doorknob and opening the door wide, he was met by a tall, slim, tan boy in a basketball jersey and athletic shorts. A bright ear to ear smile was plastered on his face, and his eyes shone brightly.

“Ke… KEL?” Sunny incredulously spluttered, his eyes going wide. He then let out a yelp of surprise as he was tackled to the floor in an enormous hug.

“Sunny!” Kel yelled gleefully “it’s so good to see you! We’ve all missed you so much in Faraway, and we think about you every day, and we talk about you, and-”

Sunny cut him off. “Can’t… breathe…” he squeaked out. “Too…. tight.”

Kel jumped up with a sheepish grin “Oh, sorry!” As he glanced around Sunny’s house, he opened his mouth to speak again. “I see you’ve done some redecorating, huh Sunny? I like it!”

Aubrey chuckled from the corner. “Someone’s excited, huh?”

Kel turned to Aubrey, who was leaning against the wall with a little smirk at the corner of her mouth. “What’s it to you, Aubr-” Kel froze. “Aubrey!?” Kel exclaimed incredulously, his mouth dropping open. “I… what… how… where have you been!?”

Aubrey shrugged nonchalantly. “I live here now.”

Kel’s face froze as he tried to process what Aubrey had just said, and Sunny could have sworn he heard the sound of a computer resetting. “You…” Kel struggled to understand what had just been said. “You live… here. With Sunny.”

Aubrey nodded, seemingly enjoying watching Kel struggle. “Yeah, what about it.”

Kel slowly seemed to be coming to grips with Aubrey’s presence. “So… are you two…”

“WE’RE NOT DATING” the two exclaimed in unison.

Kel blinked in surprise. “I was going to ask if you two were celebrating it together this year, but… actually… ARE you dating?”

Aubrey and Sunny both flushed a deep red, glancing at each other in embarrassment. Kel was staring at Aubrey with wide eyes and a stunned look on his face. Sunny didn’t want to deny it, in fact, he wanted it to be true more than anything. But he certainly wasn’t brave enough to say that. Aubrey eventually broke the silence. “I… uh… Sunny and I are…”

“We sleep together,” Sunny piped up.

Kel’s jaw physically could not get any lower at this point, but from the look on his face he was damn well going to try. “You… You SLEEP…” Kel spluttered.

Aubrey whirled to face Sunny, a look of annoyed anger on her face. “Sunny! NOT helping!”

Sunny shrugged, embarrassed. Truth be told, he just wanted to see if Aubrey would deny it, and well… she hadn’t. Could that mean…? No. Surely not. He was just getting hopeful.

Collecting himself, he turned back to Kel. “Uh… anyway. What did you mean by ‘celebrating it?’”

Kel picked his jaw up off the floor and looked at Sunny with a disappointed look on his face. “Did you forget already?”

“Forget? Forget what?”

“Today is the anniversary of the last time we were all together, dummy! You moved away a few years ago today! I always come over at this time each year!”

Sunny was confused. It hadn’t been a year since last time already, had it? But no, looking at the date, Kel was right. “Must have… slipped my mind. Sorry, it’s been a bit hectic lately” Sunny looked pointedly at Aubrey.

“Oh, I know you love me for it” Aubrey teased.

‘Yeah… yeah I kinda do.’ Sunny thought. To Kel he said “So… what are we going to do? I don’t… really have anything planned.”

Kel grinned from ear to ear. “That’s okay! I came up with a few ideas!”

Sunny leaned against the wall. “Shoot.”

“Well, I saw this cool looking Sushi restaurant on the way over…” Kel raised an eyebrow in confusion as both Sunny and Aubrey recoiled at his words. “Did I say something wrong?”

Sunny glanced at Aubrey before turning back to Kel. “No, no… we had a bit of a bad experience with that restaurant. I wouldn’t recommend it.”

Kel’s grin returned. “That’s alright then! In that case, there was a cool looking skatepark down by the mall…”

Sunny grimaced. “I… don’t think I could skate if I tried.”

Aubrey shook her head. “He’d end up hurting himself in the first five minutes. That’s going to be a no on that one, skater boy.”

Kel stuck out his tongue at Aubrey before placing a hand on his chin and furrowing his brow. A minute later, his face lit up. “Oh, I know!”

Aubrey raised an eyebrow and smirked. “Do tell.”

“When I was driving here I saw a sick looking arcade! It’s even within walking distance of where we are now!”

Sunny’s eyes widened. An arcade? How could he have managed to miss that? Given Sunny’s love for games, computers, and technology in general, arcades were like Heaven to him. Trying not to give away his excitement he responded “That… sounds pretty good.”

Aubrey rolled her eyes. “Really? I knew Sunny was a huge nerd, but Kel? You really like that stuff?”

Kel stuck out his tongue at Aubrey again. “Hey! Arcades are cool! They have like… Skee-Ball and stuff!”

Aubrey sighed. “I’d really rather not…”

“We’ll put it to a vote then. All in favor, raise your hands!” Kel thrust his hand into the air.

Sunny gave Aubrey an apologetic look before hesitantly raising his hand.

Kel grinned at Aubrey triumphantly. “Sorry Aubrey, it looks like you’ve been outvoted.”

Aubrey rolled her eyes again. “Fine. But I’m not going to enjoy it.”

The trio had been walking for a few minutes when Aubrey piped up. “So… I hear you’ve been seeing someone? Who’s the unlucky girl?”

Kel turned to Aubrey and raised his hands in mock surrender. “Her name is Cris, and for the record SHE came to ME!”

Aubrey chuckled. “Never thought I’d see the day. What’s she like?”

Kel smiled, and got a misty faraway look in his eyes. “She’s so nice… and she’s such a good swimmer! She makes me so happy when I’m with her…” Kel shook his head to clear his thoughts and snapped back to the present. “You’d know what that’s like, huh Aubrey?” He laughed and elbowed her gently in the ribs. “I never really took Sunny to be your type…”

Sunny’s eyes widened slightly. He didn’t expect Kel to be so bold…

Aubrey turned red from embarrassment and anger. “Kel! We don’t… it’s not…”

Kel laughed. “You even sleep together. You two move fast huh? Sunny I don’t know how you can put up with her!”

Sunny had been watching in horrified fascination as Kel kept talking. Part of him was enjoying seeing Aubrey flustered, but as he saw her start to turn redder he quickly realized that if he didn’t speak up soon there probably wouldn’t be a Kel left to save. “Kel… if you value your life I’d really recommend you stop talking right about now.”

Kel chuckled. “Alright, alright. I’ll leave the lovebirds alone.”

Aubrey unclenched her hands and took a deep breath. Glaring at Kel she responded “Just be glad Sunny was here to save you from yourself.”

Kel chuckled to himself, before stopping in front of a large building. A number of neon signs and video game characters decorated the entrance, and a large ARCADE sign announced the obvious; they had arrived.

“Welp, here we are,” Kel exclaimed.

Sunny silently nodded, making a mental note of the building’s location so he could come back later on his own time.

Aubrey simply opened the door. “Let’s get this over with.”

Stepping inside, the trio was plunged into darkness. The dark room was only illuminated by the light of arcade cabinets, neon signs, and a few dingy light bulbs. The air was filled with the sounds of dinging, beeping, and clicking. Over in one corner there was a bar, and a door at the back of the room led to presumably more arcade machines. Kel quickly walked up to the counter and - after a short conversation - returned with three plastic wristbands.

“Apparently, these are valid for a couple hours of game time. My treat.”

Sunny nodded his silent thanks, already eyeing the machine for one of his favorite games.

Aubrey sighed. “You think they’ll let me buy a drink? I think I look old enough…” She walked off towards the bar, muttering to herself.

Kel turned to Sunny and grinned. “I’ll be at the Skee-Ball table, come find me if you want a game!”

Sunny nodded faintly, already walking towards the Centipede cabinet in the corner. When he got there, he slapped the 1P button and began to play, already falling back into the rhythm he knew from the countless hours he had spent playing the game in his room back in Faraway. Sucked into the game, life after life flew by. ‘I’m glad these things don’t take quarters anymore,’ Sunny thought ‘I’d be broke!’ Soon enough, he noticed a small boy standing behind him. Turning to look at him, he tilted his head, waiting for the boy to speak.

“You’re really good, mister!”

Sunny was taken aback, but smiled to himself at the boy’s kind words. Glancing at the clock on the wall, he realized he had been playing for about an hour already. Stepping back from the controls he turned to the boy and asked “Would you like a turn?” The boy nodded enthusiastically and stepped forward to grasp the controls with his small hands. Sunny smiled at the boy and then turned to leave.

Sunny considered finding another game to play, but he recalled Kel’s words. This was supposed to be the time where they spent time together. He went looking for Kel, eventually finding him alone at the Skee-Ball table.

When he saw Sunny approaching, Kel turned away from the table and met Sunny with a grin. “What have you been up to?”

“Indulging in a bit of nostalgia. You?”

Kel laughed. “I’ve been here since we first walked in. You keen for a game?”

Sunny considered it for a moment, then shrugged. “Sure, why not.”

Kel reached down, pressed the 2P button, and went to grab his first ball. “So… Sunny” he asked “What IS the deal with you and Aubrey?”

Sunny rolled his first ball down the chute, netting himself ten points. He shrugged. “She showed up at my door one day, looking for a place to live. She hasn’t shared why she left yet, and I don’t really want to pressure her to, but I’m pretty sure that it had to do with her mother.”

Kel stepped up and rolled his next ball down the chute: twenty points. “How do you feel about having her live with you?”

Sunny thought for a minute, not paying attention as he rolled his next ball straight into the gutter for zero points. “When she first showed up I was terrified she was going to destroy my life… I wasn’t used to having anyone else in the house. But… she’s been anything but a hindrance. I feel better, I feel healthier… I feel happier! There’s honestly nothing I could do to repay her. I found her crying one night, and I brought her to bed as a way to comfort her… but I don’t know how to help. More than that… just being around her makes me happy and…” Sunny’s face turned red and he glanced down at the ground “Kel I think I’ve fallen in love.”

Kel grinned. “Then tell her! I can tell you now, sitting around waiting for her to pick up on how you feel isn’t going to work.”

Sunny rolled his next ball down the chute for twenty more points. “But what if she doesn’t like me? I like the way things are now… I don’t want to ruin that.”

Kel looked at Sunny with a knowing look. “If she’s really your friend, she’ll understand. Besides, what if she DOES like you? Sometimes you’ve just got to take your shot…” Kel stepped forward and rolled his ball down the chute. It passed straight through the small hole in the top right. Fifty points. Kel stepped back and grinned. “...and hope it works.”

Final score: Sunny - 70 points. Kel - 100 points.

Sunny stepped back from the table and let out a sigh, before turning to Kel with a soft smile. “Maybe you’re right. You wanna go find her?”

Kel laughed. “Sure, why not. I’m about done here anyway.”

The duo found Aubrey hunched over a cabinet against the back wall of the room. Walking up behind her, Kel tapped her on the shoulder, causing her to whirl around with a startled look on her face. “Oh… it’s you guys.”

Kel chortled. “What happened to ‘let’s get this over with?’ Seems to me you’re enjoying yourself.”

Aubrey was a bit red as she responded. “It’s not like there’s anything ELSE to do here.” Distracted by Kel, she took a hit and her ship exploded. GAME OVER flashed on the screen. “Gah!” she exclaimed, stepping back from the cabinet in disgust. “You play, Sunny. I have no idea how you can do this stuff.”

Sunny looked at the side of the cabinet Aubrey had been playing at. A white ship was depicted soaring through a starry black background, and a bright green and white logo announced the game’s title: Galaga. Sunny’s heart jumped. ‘Galaga? They still do these? Hell yeah!' he thought. Of all the games he had played whilst alone in his room, he felt that Galaga was HIS game.

Sunny turned back to Aubrey. “Here,” he said, gesturing at the controls. “I’ll teach you.”

Aubrey sighed. “Do I have to? ...Fine.” She stepped forward to stand next to Sunny.

Sunny’s brain short circuited. She was close, she was so close to him. They were standing… and their arms were touching… he didn’t know… and she was so warm… Sunny wanted nothing more than to stay in that moment forever.

Aubrey waved a hand in front of Sunny’s face. “Hello? Earth to Sunny?” Kel let out a small chuckle and Aubrey turned around to glare at him. “Is something funny?” Aubrey asked sarcastically.

“No, no.” Kel glanced at Sunny with a knowing smile. “Please, continue.”

Sunny shook his head to clear his thoughts. Blushing slightly, he turned back to the game, and began to speak. “Oka… okay so first thing you should know is, um… You start with three lives and when they run out… you lose.”

Aubrey snorted. “Obviously.”

“Um… you also get more lives when you get a certain amount of points… and you get points by killing the enemies.”

Aubrey simply nodded slowly this time, beginning to listen.

“The… the enemies will start on the left and then… they come to the middle of the screen and they do this like, loop thing before they go up top. They always shoot at where you are, so just don’t retrace your steps too often and you should be okay. Here, I’ll show you.”

Sunny stepped up to the game, and began a round. He quickly maneuvered through the game’s first screen with the precision and elegance of someone who had spent far too much time alone in their room gaming. Turning back to Aubrey, he stepped away from the game. “Now you try.”

“Sure, why not” Aubrey replied. She put her hands on the controls, smirked, and whispered “You’re cute when you’re focused.”

Sunny’s mind spiraled. She thought… she thought he was cute. This was the best day of his life. He could have dropped dead right there and then and he would have died a happy man.

Returning to reality, Sunny watched Aubrey play. When one of the aliens swooped down, Sunny remembered a trick he had learned by watching others play online. “Oh, uh… next time one of those guys at the top comes down, let yourself get grabbed by it.”

Aubrey raised an eyebrow but did as sunny asked, and her ship was taken off the top of the screen. “Alright… now what?” She asked, skeptically.

“Now kill it,” Sunny said, pointing at the alien holding the ship at the top of the screen.

Aubrey maneuvered her new ship around a dive bombing yellow alien, and tapped the fire button, turning the alien into pixelated space dust. The ship it had been holding moved back down to the bottom of the screen and combined with hers.

“Double ship” Sunny said simply.

“...Huh” Aubrey responded. “Thanks.”

With Sunny’s help, Aubrey was able to plow through a good four or five screens before the game got the better of her. As her final ship was blasted into white pixels and GAME OVER reappeared on the screen, Aubrey stepped back, shrugging. “Ah well. Thanks Sunny.”

“Of… of course” Sunny weakly responded, still not over that ‘cute’ comment from earlier.

Kel walked over. “I hate to break up the party but…” he tapped his watch. “Time’s up, we gotta bounce.”

Aubrey shrugged again. “Fine by me, we were just finishing things up here anyway.”

After leaving the arcade and beginning the walk home, Aubrey turned to Kel and asked “How’s Hero?”

Kel shrugged. “He’s doing alright, I suppose. He’s in medical school now… it seems like he spends most of his time studying, and when he’s not doing that, he’s thinking about studying!”

Aubrey chuckled. “That’s our Hero all right.”

Kel sighed. “I’m kinda annoyed that he couldn’t find the time to come with me today, but… I don’t know what’s going on in his life, so I’m going to give him the benefit of the doubt.”

Aubrey shrugged. “Well, I’m sure he’d be here if he could.”

Once they reached the entrance to Sunny’s house, Kel stopped. “Well… This is going to be where I make my exit.”

Sunny frowned. “Do you have to?”

Kel sighed. “Believe me, I don’t like it anymore than you do, but my mom’s expecting me home soon.”

“Alright well… Thank you Kel. I really enjoyed seeing you again.”

Aubrey laughed. “You’re still just as annoying as I remember, but hey, it could be worse.”

Sunny snorted at Aubrey’s words. “That’s high praise, Kel.”

Kel smiled, then turned to go. “Oh!” he exclaimed, stopping short. He turned around and pulled the two of them into a group hug. *Click!*

Sunny stepped back, surprised. “What was that all about?”

Kel held up the camera he was holding. “I promised Basil I’d bring him a picture.” He ran to his car. “Take care you two!”

Sunny and Aubrey waved at the car as Kel drove off. “Well he may be loud,” Sunny remarked “but I wouldn’t trade him for the world.”

Aubrey rolled her eyes. “I suppose he could be worse.”

After they entered the house together, Sunny turned to Aubrey. “I hope that wasn’t TOO boring.”

Aubrey laughed. “I enjoyed myself more than I thought I would, which isn’t saying much. What are your plans for the evening?”

Sunny thought about it for a moment. “Well… I need to take a shower before I do anything else.”

Aubrey nodded. “I’ll leave you to that then.” She shot one more flirtatious smile Sunny’s way before walking off.

Sunny shook his head, bewildered, before walking to the bathroom. Standing that close to Aubrey had made him sweat HARD, and he really needed to clean off. Relaxing in the shower, he thought back to Kel’s words. Should he just tell Aubrey how he felt? He didn’t know if he had the courage. At the very least, he decided he’d consider it. Feeling the water run down his aching body, he realized how tired he was. Having Aubrey around was wearing him out more than he had realized. He sighed, already looking forward to the warmth of his bed.

Some time later, he stepped out of the shower and into clean clothes. After walking down the hall, he entered his bedroom to find Aubrey already fast asleep on the bed, curled up and breathing softly. He smiled as he slipped into bed behind her, and as he drifted off he remembered her words; she had said he was cute. With a wide smile plastered across his face, Sunny nodded off, his mind filled with thoughts of love.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoyed this latest chapter! Many people were asking for longer chapters, and while I can't promise they'll all be quite this long, that's something I'll be trying to do moving forward. As a result, I would expect chapters to come out a bit less regularly.
> 
> Once again, the art at the end of this chapter was created by the lovely Priska. I can not express my thanks to her enough, the fact that my little project was enough to inspire creativity is the highest compliment I can imagine. Again, their commissions are open if you would like to grab yourself some high quality art. https://ko-fi.com/album/NEW-commission-info-C0C62JGSW#galleryItemView


	6. Something in the Dark

Aubrey had a plan. Truth be told, she had been thinking of it for over a week now. Yesterday she had nearly made her move, but Kel showed up and got in her way as usual. Today was going to be different! With no Kel in sight, she was free to make her move. She reached into her back pocket and pulled out a poster, taken from a shop window. Her eyes were drawn to the large bold words at the top: _NEW AMC CINEMA GRAND OPENING_. Her heart jumped in anticipation. It was the perfect plan. What could possibly be a better excuse to wrap her arms around Sunny than a horror movie!? Sunny was shy, surely he’d be easily scared. That was when she would strike. It was perfect.

It had to be perfect, especially after the disaster at the Sushi restaurant. She was going to need to bring her A-game to pull this off, but if she did…? Oh, it would be perfection.

“Ahem…”

Aubrey flushed. When had Sunny gotten there? Aubrey waited for the red color to drain from her face before turning around to face him.

“Aubrey? You okay?”

“Why… Why wouldn’t I be?” She responded nervously.

“You were just… standing there.”

Aubrey waved her hand at Sunny dismissively. “Oh, just staring off into space. Don’t tell me you don’t know what that’s like, I catch you doing it five times a day at LEAST.”

Sunny rubbed the back of his neck with a sheepish expression on his face. “I guess I’m still not used to having someone else around.”

Aubrey saw her chance, and she took it. “Well, I have a remedy for that. There’s tons of stuff we can do together. Say for example…” she flashed the newspaper clipping at Sunny with a crooked smile. “...Go to the movies?”

Sunny cocked his head. “...Just what did you have in mind?”

Aubrey pretended to think it over for a second. “How about a horror movie? There’s one that just came out that looks good.”

Sunny paled. “I don’t know… I’m terrible with horr-. Sunny stopped, and realization followed by embarrassment flashed across his face. “Uh… actually that sounds good. When… when does it start?”

Aubrey did a mental fist pump. He had agreed! So far, so good. She glanced down at the movie listings below the ad. “Bump in the Night…” she read out loud. “One PM. So… about an hour.”

Sunny raised an eyebrow, concerned. “How close is the theater?”

“Uh… I think… thirty minutes maybe?”

Sunny exhaled in surprise. “We had better get going then.”

Aubrey nodded happily. “You have a car, right? I’ll meet you back here in ten.”

Aubrey turned and walked off, betraying no hint of the immense joy she was feeling at that moment. Her plan was working! She was so close, she could practically feel Sunny in her arms already.

After the two met back up, Aubrey closed the door behind them as they went into Sunny’s small garage. Sunny gestured at the car parked within. Its silver paint job was covered with dings and more than a few scratches. There was an empty spot next to it; most likely where Sunny’s mom parked when she arrived at home each night. Aubrey walked around to the passenger side, threw her handbag in the back, and hopped in.

“She’s an old thing,” Sunny remarked, sliding into the driver’s seat. “but I like her. Gets me around when she needs to.”

“I never took you as a car guy Sunny” Aubrey joked.  
  
Sunny shrugged as he turned the ignition and started to back out of the garage. “I’m not, not really. I just enjoy the freedom in being able to drive.” After pressing a button to close the garage behind them, Sunny turned back to the wheel and started down the road.  
  
“Lucky bastard” Aubrey pouted. “I wish I could drive.”

“Can’t you?” 

Aubrey shook her head in exasperation, resentment growing in her chest. “Nah. My mom never took me to the DMV. I had nobody to teach me either.”

Sunny was silent for a moment. “You know… I could teach you,” he offered. “I’m not a professional, but I know enough.”  
  
Aubrey laughed. “That’s very sweet of you, Sunny,” she teased. “Maybe another time… we’ll be late to the movie if you take the time now.”

Sunny blushed at her words. “Of… of course. Anytime.”

The pair drove in silence for a while, Aubrey enjoying the soft vibrations of the car as it drove down the highway. Eventually, she turned to Sunny and sighed. “You wanna put some music on? This is boring.”

Sunny blinked, taken aback. “Oh, uh… sure. Let’s see what’s on the radio.” Sunny reached down and pressed a button on the car’s dashboard. The soft tones of a piano faded in. A voice began to sing.  
  
 _“Close… your eyes you’ll be here soon…”_ _  
_ _  
_Aubrey’s heart rose as her face lit up. “I love this song!” She glanced over at Sunny, and was surprised to see his face scrunched in concentration. “Sunny? You okay?”  
  
Sunny blinked and shook his head. “Yeah… sorry. I could have sworn I’ve heard this somewhere before…” He trailed off, seemingly lost in thought, before shaking his head again. “Sorry, it’s nothing.”

Aubrey nodded and turned away, bobbing her head to the beat of the song. When the music reached its climax she joined in without shame, singing. “Oyasumi, oyasumi… Close your eyes and you’ll leave this dream... Oyasumi, oyasumi… I know that it’s hard to do…” She noticed Sunny was looking at her with a smile on his face. “What?” she asked defensively. “It’s a good song!”

Sunny simply continued smiling warmly. “You have… a beautiful voice. I can’t believe I’ve never noticed.”

Aubrey felt her face grow warm at Sunny’s compliment. She had never thought of her voice as anything special, but for some reason Sunny’s words made her feel happy. “Oh… I… thanks.”

Sunny nodded stiffly, smiling, before turning back to the road.

As Aubrey stared out the window, the small residential neighborhood they were driving through was replaced by the hustle and bustle of the big city. Silver skyscrapers stretched upwards as far as the eye could see, and the sidewalks were filled with pedestrians dressed in everything from suits to shorts and T-shirts making their way to and from work. The air was filled with sounds of city life; the honking of car horns, music and laughter of street performers, and even the cries of a newsboy making his daily rounds. Sunny turned onto a side street and Aubrey noticed the architecture had changed. Gone were the metallic skyscrapers, flat faced and orderly. In their place were short, wide buildings, ornate and beautiful.

Aubrey turned to Sunny. “What’s up with this part of town?”

Sunny shrugged. “Like I said, I’m not super familiar. I think this is the entertainment district? Used to be some old French settlement, that’s why all the buildings are so different. Pretty sure they’re made of like… granite or something. My mom loves this area. Says the history is ‘super unique.’” He rolled his eyes. “Uh… I think it’s supposed to be like a ‘mini Broadway’ now. Lots of theaters and bars and stuff.”

“Huh.” Aubrey mused. “I wonder what the people who lived here were like… You think they’d mind what happened to their houses?”

Sunny raised an eyebrow. “Would you?”

Aubrey let out a resigned sigh. “With the amount of alcohol my mom brings through… my house is close enough to a bar already” she quipped, only half joking.

At this, Sunny quieted, seemingly unsure what to say. Aubrey did her best to brighten the mood. “Hey, cheer up will you? S’only a joke.”

Sunny stared at Aubrey with an expression of doubt on his face, but thankfully he didn’t press the issue. “...Sure.” He said, slowly.

A couple minutes later the car came to a stop in front of a large brick building, decorated with red velvet curtains and a glass ticket box. Compared to the surrounding buildings it seemed much more modernized, lacking the distinctive pointed roof and decorative engravings of those around it. Through the large revolving door Aubrey could just barely make out the large carpeted foyer within. A lit up white sign hung from an overhang, displaying names of upcoming films. Large bright red letters made up a simplistic logo: _AMC_

“Welp,” Sunny spoke up, slightly nervous. “Here we are.”

Aubrey glanced at her watch. “Good, we’ve still got time.”

The two exited the car and approached the ticket booth. The gray haired woman behind the glass turned to face them with a kindly smile. “Hello dearies. What can I help you with?”

“Two tickets for Bump in the Night please!” Aubrey exclaimed, feeling especially chipper all of the sudden.

The woman turned to grab the tickets from below the counter. “On a date, are you?” She laughed. “You know, you two remind me of the dates I used to go on with my husband when I was your age! The sort of things we got up to...” She laughed at Sunny’s uncomfortable expression and turned back to Aubrey, passing her the tickets and taking the money Aubrey had placed on the table. “You two enjoy yourselves now!”

Aubrey turned to look at Sunny, and she couldn’t help but laugh upon seeing the mortified expression on his face. “C’mon silly, let’s go. We wouldn’t want to be late.”

Sunny simply nodded, still red in the face, and followed Aubrey through the double doors into the theater.

As they approached the concession stand, Sunny pulled out his wallet. Aubrey turned to Sunny with a hand on her hip. “Oh no, this is MY treat. Put that away.”  
  
Sunny sighed. “C’mon Aubrey, you already paid for the tickets. Let me pay for these.”

Aubrey thought about it. Sunny didn’t seem like he was going to back down from this one… and come to think of it she WAS a little low on cash at the moment. She rolled her eyes. “Fine. But I owe you one.” Sunny opened his mouth to protest, but Aubrey held up a hand to stifle it. “I don’t wanna hear it. I’m paying you back for this later.” Sunny sighed.  
  
Sunny walked up to the counter. “Yeah um… we’ll take a large popcorn… a couple of medium drinks… and I’ll have a bag of m&ms.  
  
“Why m&ms?” Aubrey questioned.  
  


Sunny shrugged. “I dunno… I’ve always liked them. They kind of remind me of you.”  
  
Aubrey cocked her head, amused. “How so?” she asked.

“Well… they’re colorful, and they’ve got a hard outer shell. But they’re very sweet on the inside...” Sunny trailed off, blushing as he realized what he was saying  
  
Aubrey felt her face grow warm again at Sunny’s words. _‘Sunny… you smooth bastard.’_ she thought to herself. With a slightly embarrassed smile, she turned to the counter. “Make that two bags of m&ms” she called.

After getting their snacks, the two walked through the door at the back of the room. They made their way over to the door marked ‘THEATER 13’ and walked through. They were plunged into darkness, and once their eyes adjusted, they made their way through the rows of seats to the back of the room. Aubrey sat down in a seat to Sunny’s right, and the two sat in silence. Aubrey’s heart was racing a mile a minute. She was so close, he was right there. Close enough to touch… She swallowed nervously, giving herself a mental pep talk. ‘ _Soon.’_ The theater’s lights dimmed.

“Here we go…” Aubrey whispered, both to herself as well as Sunny.

  
  


Aubrey could barely pay attention to the movie, she was so enthralled with thoughts of what was about to happen. She snacked on popcorn, glancing over at Sunny what seemed like every three seconds, waiting for the moment when he’d grab onto her. On the screen, the movie’s monster appeared: a black, pulsating mass with a large white eye, and several spindly appendages. A creepy constantly smiling mouth was filled with razor sharp glistening white teeth. The girl on the screen screamed in terror.  
  


 _"OH GOD! That black shape! Inky black....... like... darkness!!!!! That eye.... ever staring.... all seeing..."_

Aubrey’s heart jumped. This was it! She turned to Sunny, ready for him to jump into her arms…  
  


Her heart dropped.

One look at Sunny was enough to tell Aubrey that something was terribly, irreparably wrong. Sunny had curled his knees into his chest, and wrapped his arms around them. His face was buried in his arms, and he was rocking back and forth and shaking violently. She leaned over and whispered to him in a concerned tone, “Sunny? Sunny?! Are you okay?” At this distance she could hear his short, cut off breaths. Oh god, he was hyperventilating. A string of slurred, panicked whispers escaped his mouth. Aubrey couldn’t make out much of it, but something came through. A panicked and unstable whisper:

“Some… thing… behind… me…”

That was it. Aubrey didn’t understand what was going on, but she knew she needed to get Sunny out of there. She stood up, grabbing the shaking boy’s hand and forcing him to his feet. She dragged him down the aisle and out the door they had come in. Aubrey didn't have the time to sort through all of the regret, confusion, worry, disappointment which plagued her mind. Right now there was one thing that was important, pulling the cold, panicked boy outside.

Aubrey burst out of the door to theater 13, drawing concerned looks from the moviegoers passing by. She paid them no mind; Sunny was all that was important now. She dashed through the foyer, eyes on the revolving door. She nearly bowled several people over in her effort to get Sunny outside. She reached the door and gave it a shove, bursting through into the sunlight.

  
Aubrey pulled Sunny’s shivering body over to a nearby bench, and he promptly collapsed onto his side, curling back up into a ball with a constant stream of nervous whispers poured from his mouth. Aubrey knelt down to look him in his screwed-shut eyes, placing a hand on his shoulder. “Hey…” she whispered. “It’s okay. I’m here. Just… slow down and talk to me.” Sunny didn’t respond, he was shaking, jibbering. He began to slowly prise open his eyes.

“…Aubrey? Where’s mr plantegg?” he asked, his face still terrified despite his calm question.

“…Sorry?” Aubrey felt like she was just clocked in the head with the weirdest nostalgia.

“Why isn’t your hair purple?” he asked, “where’s Kel? And Hero and Basil and Mari?” The last name felt like a stab in Aubrey’s chest. Her face fell, something was wrong.

“…Sunny? Are you… seeing things?” Aubrey was way out of her element, she didn’t know what she should do, something, dammit! She felt his forehead, it was a bit hotter than usual, than usual? When was the last time she touched his forehead? Last night, when he was sleeping. Tears welled up at the corners of her eyes. What happened to him? What happened to that Sunny? She looked back up at him, but his face was drained of all colour, he was looking just past her shoulder.

“Aubrey… there’s something behind you.” His voice was tiny, terrified. Aubrey swallowed,

“It’s okay, Sunny. It can’t be that scary. What does it look like?”

“Dark. Hanging. Eye. One eye. From beneath the…” Confusion momentarily crossed his face, his eyes still locked on it behind her, “the… hair…” In that moment, both Aubrey and Sunny mirrored each other, their faces falling with the exact same realisation… “Mari!” Sunny choked out. Aubrey dashed forward without a second thought, wrapping her trembling arms around his shoulders as he collapsed into her shoulder and neck, she was feeling the tears already beginning to soak into her jacket. That didn’t matter. Aubrey was staring out a thousand yards, with the same look of deadly, traumatizing realization she wore when Sunny was in the hospital room. 

Aubrey was beginning to understand what Sunny was talking about. “You saw… Mari’s shape? Behind you?”

Sunny twitched.

 _‘But then why during the movie…’_ Aubrey’s thought was cut short as she remembered the monster from the movie. The black shape… inky black, like darkness. The eye... Her mouth fell open in horror as she realized what had happened. “Sunny… are you telling me that you had... visions... of Mari that looked something like… that thing?”

Sunny flinched at one of her words. “...something?” she nervously repeated. Sunny nodded in fear.

Aubrey’s eyes filled with tears holding Sunny’s cold, shaking body. This wasn’t fair. He didn’t deserve this, NOBODY deserved this! “Sunny…” she whispered, tears in her eyes. “Why didn’t you tell us?” Her heart was overcome with grief. She couldn’t imagine bearing that burden alone, and for YEARS at that. She pulled him further into her, and she could feel his pulse racing. “I’m here,” she whispered quietly. “You aren’t alone anymore.”

Eventually, holding Sunny close to her chest, she could feel his breathing steady and his pulse return to normal. She hesitantly let go. “You… you okay now?”

Sunny nodded, sniffling.

“Sunny… she repeated. “Why didn’t you tell us?”

Sunny stared at the ground. “I didn’t want to be a burden. You all had your own trauma… you were already dealing with so much… and I felt like I deserved it. I didn’t want to hurt-”

He was cut off by Aubrey tackling him back into a hug. “How DARE you say that!” she said, her voice shaking with anger. A wave of despair washed over her as her hands tightened into fists. “Please don’t…” she quieted. “I don’t like hearing you talk about yourself that way.”

Sunny, seemingly surprised by Aubrey’s outburst, simply nodded. “I’m sorry Aubrey. I know you just wanted to spend some time together…” Sunny let out a nervous laugh. “But I’m sure this wasn’t quite what you had in mind.”

Aubrey smiled. He was cracking jokes, that was good, right? It looked like he had come to his senses. “I admit, I wasn’t expecting this. But I’m glad you finally told someone.”

  
  
  


“Do… you want to stay here for a bit?” Sunny asked meekly. Aubrey looked at him. His legs were still shaking, he looked so tired, she couldn’t ask him to drive like this, and the park had such a nice view, too.

“Sure.” She said simply. No words were exchanged, they just sat and watched the kids play as the families sat on picnic blankets and watched from afar. They appreciated the deep blue sky and warm sun which shone through the buildings and reflected off the windows of tall glass towers. Aubrey glanced at Sunny from the corner of her eye. _‘What was the point of all this?’_ She thought, _‘watching a horror movie like that, scaring him like that, just so I could hold him?’_

She placed her arm around his shoulders, and almost instinctively he leant into her. Neither of them looked, neither of them spoke. They just stayed there until she began to hear the soft sighs of a sleeping Sunny. Aubrey smiled.

Was it really that hard?

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Another huge shoutout to Pitmore on this one, he wrote part of one of the scenes and continues to be an INCREDIBLE editor.


End file.
